Five UPNM students submit letter of representation for review of charge

KUALA LUMPUR: Five of the 19 Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) students charged with causing injuries to navy cadet officer Zulfarhan Osman Zulkarnain have submitted a letter of representation to the Attorney-General's Chambers for a review of the charge against them.
Deputy public prosecutor Nordin Ismail told Magistrate Siti Radziah Kamarudin that the AG's Chambers had rejected the letter of representation today.
The five students, all aged 21, are Muhammad Akmal Akif Alias, Muhammad Amirul Asraff Mala, Ahmad Shafwan Berdal, Muhammad Sufi Mohd Mustapha and Muhamad Ashraf Abdullah.
Lawyer Datuk Hazizah Kassim, who represented the five students, said her clients had sent the letter of representation on July 9, before she was appointed to represent them.
The court set Sept 15 for mention of the case pending the full report on the case including the post-mortem and chemist reports.
On June 14, the five, with 14 others, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of voluntarily causing hurt to Zulfarhan Osman to extort confession from him over the theft of a laptop.
The 14 others are Mohd Hafiz Fauzan Ismail, Mohamad Lukhmanul Hakim Mohd Zain, Luqman Hakim Shamsuri, Noriznan Izzairi Noor Azhar, Muhammad Danial Firdaus Azmir, Muhammad Hasif Ismail, Muhammad Adib Iman Fuad Adi Sany, Mohamad Syazwan Musa, Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi Azmal, Muhammad Azamuddin Mad Sofi, Muhammad Najib Mohd Razi, Muhammad Afif Najmudin Azahat, Mohamad Shobirin Sabri and Abdoul Hakeem Mohd Ali.
The offence was allegedly committed at room 03-05, Jebat Hostel block of UPNM in Sungai Besi between 2.30am and 5.30am on May 21 and at room 04-10 of the same hostel block between 1.30am and 4.30am the following day.
They were charged under Section 330 of the Penal Code, read together with Section 34 of the same law, and face imprisonment for up to seven years and liable to a fine, if found guilty.
The court also set the same date (Sept 15) for the mention of the case of five students charged with murdering Zulfarhan Osman while another accused, Abdoul Hakeem, was charged with abetment in the murder.
The five accused are Muhammad Akmal Zuhairi, Muhammad Azamuddin, Muhammad Najib, Muhammad Afif Najmudin and Mohamad Shobirin.
They allegedly committed the offence at room 04-10 of the hostel block between 4.45am and 5.45am last May 22.
The offence, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, read with Section 34 of the same code, provides the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
They were not allowed bail. Five of them are detained at Sungai Buloh Prison while another at Kajang Prison. — Bernama